1. Field
The present disclosure pertains to a drilling machine that drills holes into contour surfaces with the drill bit of the machine oriented normally to the contour surface. More specifically, the present disclosure pertains to a drilling machine that automatically orients a drill bit in normal orientation to and maintains elevation to a contour surface of an object to be drilled prior to activation of the drilling operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In large scale manufacturing, for example assembly line manufacturing of household appliances or automobiles, drilling a hole is one of the most basic and common processes. This is also true in the manufacture of aircraft. However, considering the relative size and complexity of an aircraft's construction relative to that of a home appliance or an automobile, it can be appreciated that there's a substantial amount of time and labor invested in drilling holes in manufacturing aircraft.
Most holes drilled in manufacturing aircraft are drilled by labor-intensive multi-step manual methods. One or more workers at workstations along the assembly line manually orient the drill at the designed position at the surface of the object to be drilled and manually perform the drilling operation into the surface. In addition many, if not most, of the holes drilled in the manufacture of an aircraft are drilled into singular or compound curvature surfaces. It is required that the holes drilled into these surfaces be accurately positioned and shaped. This requires the use of drill alignment devices by the worker, such as drill cups or drill jigs, to properly orient and position the drill relative to the contoured surface when performing the drilling operation. Without the use of these drill alignment devices, oversized, misshapen, and non-normal holes may result, requiring expensive rework of the object being manufactured.
Automated drilling machines have improved the drilling operations in manufacturing processes. However, such machines are typically very expensive and require a considerable investment in software programming for the various different component parts or objects that are drilled in manufacturing the aircraft.
What is needed to overcome these disadvantages of prior art drilling processes is a drilling apparatus that can be easily positioned by the worker and activated by the worker to produce a properly located normal hole in a contoured surface of an object being manufactured.